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J. M. BUISSON. WIRE FLATTENING MACHINE.

(No Model.)

No. 537,437. Patented Apr. 16, 1895.

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J. M. BUI'SSON.

WIRE FLATTENI-NG MACHINE. I No. 537,437. Patented Apr. 16, 18 95.

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Patented Apr. 16, 1895.

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-J. M. BUISSON. WIRE FLATTBNINGJMAGHINE.

No. 537,437. Patented Apr. 16, 1895.

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W1 1 n :55 c UMZW Tum wAs UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JEAN MARIE BUISSON, OF LYONS, FRANCE.

WIRE-FLATTENING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,437, dated April 16, 1895.

Application filed January 10, 1893. Serial No. 457,916. '(No model.) Patented in France February 7, 1891, No. 211,237, in

Germany February 25, 1891, No. 61,220; in Austria-Hungary September 16, 1891, No- 21 and No. 2,457, and in England January 21, 1892,1I0. 1,232,

To all whom it mag concern.-

Be it known that I, JEAN.,MARIE BUISSON, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Lyons, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-'Flattenin g Machines, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent in Great Britain, No. 1,232, dated January 21, 1892; in France, No. 211,237, dated February 7, 1891; in Germany, No. 61,220, dated February 25, 1891, and patent of addition thereto; in Austria-Hungary, No. 21 and No. 2,457, dated September 16, 1891, and in France, patent of addition to No. 211,237, dated February 7,1891,) of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to construct and operate an improved automatic wire flattening machine.

The invention will be best understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are respectively a side elevation, end elevation, plan and cross section of a machine constructed according to this invention. Figs. 5 to 13 represent details of various parts of the machine. Fig. 14 is an enlarged detail end view of the flattening rollers and their support. Fig. 15 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 16 is a top plan view of the same. Fig. 17 is a section on the line a:a;, Fig. 15. Fig. 18 is asection on the line y-y, Fig. 16, and Fig. 19 is a face view of Fig. 9.

the flattened wire to afurther roller 12 which in performing its horizontal reciprocating motion equally distributes the wire upon the receiving spool B.

As regards the operating mechanism the operation of its various parts is as follows:- The lower pressure-roller M receives motion preferably from the fast driving pulley P (the ably through frictional contact.

shaft of the lower pressure roller M are seother pulley P being loose). The upper pressure-roller M (the pressure of which upon the lower roller is adjustable) only moves prefercured two pulleys p 19' operating driving belts which through the medium of two conical belt pulleys or drums transmit motion to the unwinding or feeding spoolA and to the winding or receiving spool B respectively. If during the operation of the machine the ten sion of the wire should become too great at say a, i. 6., behind the pressure or flattening rollers, the roller b fixed to the end of a lever L, tilts over this lever about its pivot o. A cord 0 is then drawn in the direction of the arrow so as to act upon a bell-crank lever g g composed of two horizontal lever arms at preferably a right angle to each other-and connected by a vertical shaft, and thereby causes this lever to shift the strap upon the two conical pulleys or drums h h in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 3. It may thus be seen, that the speed at which the wire is unwound or fed from the spool A will increase while the tension of the wire is reduced to its normal degree. Should however the tension of the wire become insuflicient, the inverse controlling or adjusting effect is produced by the action of the counterweight W pulling the cord 0 in the opposite direction of the arrow.

An identical controlling device is arranged to act upon the operating gear of the winding or receiving spool B. An additional tension roller b may be attached to an oscillating arm K in order to diminish the oscillations of the lever L.

Upon the I The reciprocating motion by which through the medium of the roller 12 the wire is wound evenly on the receiving spool B may be more fully described as follows: Where the shape of the said receiving or winding spool B is as shown in Fig. 5, e. e., with straight flanges, the amplitude or extent of the up and down strokes is constant, so that it is only necessary to adjust this extent of motion once when setting the machine in motion; but in the case, where the receiving spool has beveled flanges, as shown in Fig. 6, the extent of the reciprocating movement should vary in proportion as the spool becomes more and more filled with wire. Figs. 7, 8 and 9 sliowasim ple arrangement adapted to accomplish this result.

The principal shaft of the machine, 71. e., the shaft of the lower roll M transmits its movement to the pulley 19 (Fig. 1) whichby means of bevel gearing r r drives the vertical shaft Q. This latter carries a cam Z. (See Figs. 7, S, and 9.) The device S is arranged so as to pivot on the vertical axis a; y and carries on its lower surface a small projection or stud T which is constantly kept in contact with the edge of the cam Z by means of a spring of any kind. The cam Z having imparted to it a continuous movement of rotation, the device S will oscillate on its pivot or axis 00 y and its oscillations will have a. constant amplitude determined by the profile of the cam. On its upper surface the device S carries a screw V turning in the two fixed collars c c and passingthrough a carriage N which it shifts to the left or to the right according to the direction of its rotation, consequently therefore causing the carriage to approach toward, or to recede from the common axis of rotation of S and N, viz., w y. The carriage N supports the wire guide roller b as well as a small forked armfin which the wire coming from the guide roller 12 passes, for the purpose of giving greater precision and regularity to the distribution of the wire on the winding bobbin. When the carriage N is at its nearest point of approach to the axis a; y the amplitude of the oscillation of the guide roller b and fork f is at its minimum; and vice versa in the other extreme position of the carriage N (viz., of greatest elongation from the axis 00 y) the amplitude of oscillation is at its maximum. This device therefore enables me to vary the amplitude of the oscillatory movement of the wire guide at pleasure by simply turning the screw V; and this rotation may be effected by hand or automatically. In the latter case the screw V may carry a toothed wheel R encountering at each oscillation a pawl which causes it to rotate by one tooth or more than one, thus continually changing the amplitude of oscillation of the wire guide. If the pawl be turned back out of the way the amplitude of oscillation will remain constant.

To stop the machine either in the case of the wire breaking or when the predetermined supply of wire on the receiving spool is about to run out an electrical current closed or broken automatically is employed at the required moment acting upon an electro-magnet which attracts or repels a smallmetal rod as the case may beand thereby operates a series of levers so as to disconnect the machine from the driving mechanism.

Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 10 show a'similar arrangement. In front of an electromagnet e is placed a small metal bar at (Fig. 10) supporting an arm pivoted at the fixed point 2'. As soon as the wire breaks the swinging lever arm L (Fig. 1) falls back into the position shown in dotted lines L and closes an electric circuit D thereby sending a current through the electromagnet eand causing it to attract the bar (1 and allow the arm m to fall. In falling m strikes the rear arm of the pivoted lever n (Fig. 4) depressing it and raising the forward end which is engaged with the stop if fixed on the rod 8 which carries the forked strap guide q of the disengaging gear. The rod 8 is continually acted upon by a spring or counterweight, tending to move it toward the right (as shown by the arrow in Fig. 4) the spring being compressed when the engaging gear is in action, in which position it is maintained by the lever n abutting against the stop 25. Consequently when the lever 11 is depressed by the breaking of the wire, in the manner explained, the reaction of the spring (or counterweight) shifts the strap over on to theloose pulley as shown in dotted lines at q and the machine is immediately stopped.

The same or a similar mechanism is employed for stopping the machine when the.

- of the machine in the manner described. If

after having put back the index hand to zero its initial position, the machine is once more started the stoppage will'again occur after the same number of revolutions, and so on. In this way all the bobbins will contain an identical length and weight of wirei. 6., so long as the contact D remains unchanged in position. This method permits of obtaining results remarkable for uniformity and precision.

In order to obtain a maximum pressure between the two flattening rollers, the upper roller has a bulging surface owing to which contact takes place at one point only as shown in Figs. 14 to 18. To prevent the pressure rollers, however, from wearing too rapidly, the point of contact may be changed by inclining the axis of the upper roller. For this purpose, the gudgeons of the said roller rotate in two bearings, guided between the vertical columns A. Upon the top of the said bearings rests a cross-bar E, in conjunction with two screws F, acting on springs R and thus more or less pressure can be brought to bear upon either end of the cross bar E, and

transmitted thereby through the bearings D S C to the gudgeons of the upper roller M, so as to influence and vary the position of the point of contact thereof with the lower roller M.

It is evident by turning one of the screws F more than the other, the transverse bar E The upper part D of the bearing receives the pressure of the cross-bar E and isguided by the columns A. The lower part 0, in which the gudgeon of the roller M rotates, has sufflcient play between the columns A to enable it to assume the same inclination as that axis. Between these two parts of the bearing is placed a sphere S, of some hard metal, which transmits the pressure from D to C, while permitting perfectly free movement to the latter in relation to the former. By this arrangement,whatever inclination may be given to the axis of the roller, the parallelism of the axis of its hearings will always be maintained, so as to insure smooth running.

I claim 1. In a machine for flattening wire the combination with the pressure or flattening rollers, a wire supply bobbin, an unwinding mechanism therefor, a movable pulley over which the wire passes before reaching the rollers with connections between the same and unwinding mechanism whereby the tension of the wire before reaching the rollers is controlled, and a winding mechanism for receiving the wire after its passage through the rollers; substantially as described.

2. In a machine for flattening wire, the com-- bination with the pressure or flattening rollers, a wire supply bobbin, a wire receiving bobbin for supplying and receiving the wire to and from the rollers, and variable speed unwinding and winding mechanism for the respective bobbins, of movable pulleys over which the wire passes between the supply bobbin and rollers and between the rollers and receiving bobbin with connections be tween the pulleys respectively and the unwinding and winding mechanism respectively; substantially as described.

3. In a machine for flattening wire, the combination with supply and receiving bobbins,

and guide pulleys, of the pressure or flattening rollers between which the wire is guided, one having a fiat face, and the other a transversely segmental face and mounted in swivel bearingswhereby it may be inclined to present new portions of its face for cooperation with the wire; substantially as described.

4. In a machine for flattening wire, the combination with the supply bobbin, pressure or flattening rolls and receiving bobbin, of the drive mechanism for the rolls, a starting and stopping gear interposed in the drive mechanism, an electro-magnetically controlled op-' erating shifter therefor and a counter for indicating the quantity of wire passed through the rolls, contacts controlled by the counter and an electric circuit including the contacts and the controlling magnet whereby the rolls are stopped when a predetermined amount of wire has passed through the rolls; substantially as described. t

5. In awire flattening machine, the combination with: the flattening mechanism and winding mechanism, of a distributer for the wire as it is wound, consisting of the oscillatory frame carrying the wire guide, the adjustable stud on the frame and the driven cam cooperating with the stud to oscillate the frame, whereby the amplitude of the movenaled in the frame and having the wheel on the outer end whereby it may be turned to adjust the stud nearer to or farther from the pivot of the frame whereby the range of move ment of the guide may be varied; substan-,

tially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand in the presence of the two subscribing witnesses.

JEAN MARIE BUISSON. Witnesses:

CURWILLE BIE'IRIX, GEO. D. FAIRFIELD. 

